Assigwoe to evans fuel saving



Irelb. 6, 1923.

J. P. EVANS.

FUEL SAVING COVER SHEET FOR GRATES AND PROCESS OF UTILIZING SAME.

FILED OCT. 15, 1918.

oocooooooo Patented F fi, i923,

I i, new intents PATENT JOSEPH 3 EVANS, O33 BIItltIINGHI-tl'vi, ALABAMA, ASSIGNOR TO EVANE? FUEL SAVING COMPANY, A CORPOZEATION 0F ,taLAEAIVU-i; I

FUEL-SAVING COVER SHEET F03, (o -(RATES AND PROCESS OF UTILIZING SAME.

Application filed October 15, 1918.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH PnrnsTLnY EVANS, a citizen of the United States of America. residing at Birmingham, in the county of Jefferson and State of Alabama, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fuel-Saving Cover Sheets for Grates and Process of Utilizing Same, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a novel means for preventing the loss of fine coal through the grates when starting furnace fires in locomotives and stationary boilers.

In starting furnace fires the present prac tice is to spread a layer of coal five or six inches in thickness over the grate, after which shavings or kindling is thrown on the coal andignited and a top draft is turned on to cause the bed of coal to ignite. A careful investigation shows that where run of mine or the small sized grades of coal are employed, and they generally are for firing boilers, a large amount of fine coal will sift through the grate into the ash pan and is lost. A careful investigation shows that this loss averages about twenty-five per cent of the coal used to lay the initial bed on the grate.

The object of this invention is to devise an inexpensive means which can be applied without trouble or inconvenience and which will practically eliminate this loss of coal. To this end my invention consists in providing an inflammable sheet to form a cover for the grate which is adapted by perforations or equivalent means to permit an ample volume of air to pass therethrough sufficient to insure the rapid ignition of the coal bed but at the same time to prevent the fine coal from sifting through the grate and being lost. My preferred grate cover is a perforated paper sheet having sufficient body to adapt it to unroll itself when introduced in a roll and dropped on the grate. The advantage of this is that by rolling the sheet and dropping it onto the grate it will automatically open itself out to cover the grate, thus enabling it to be applied without trouble or labor. Preferably the sheets are furnished in roll form, the rolls having widths to correspond with the standard grate widths and sheets oft-he desired length being torn off of the rolls. This has the advantage of convenience in storage and bandling, and moreover sets the paper so that S erial No. 258,220.

when rolled reversely for use in the fire box it will unroll. more readily.

My invention illustrated in its )re ferred embodiment in the accompanying drawings, in which 7 Fig. 1 shows a typical boiler fire box and grate in section with the perforated sheet in position and the initial bed of coal covering part of the grate, the rolled sheet in dotted lines showing the manner of introduction into the fire box.

Fig. 2 shows the rolls of for use.

Similar reference numerals refer to similar parts throughout the drawings.

The sheet 1 is preferably of paper and is provided with perforations 2 on closely spaced centers, the perforations being from a quarter to a half inch in diameter though any equivalent apertures or perforations may be provided, either during the manufacture or by treatment of the sheet after manufacture. The perforations should be small enough to prevent the sifting of appreciable quantities of fine coal therethrough, while at the same time permitting a free passage of air up through the chute to the bed of coal. The perforations should cover as much of the surface area of the sheet as will not so reduce its stiffness that it will not unroll as hereinafter described, it being desirable in any event that the perforations should cover not less than fifty per cent of the surface area of the sheet. This initial bed of coal is indicated at 3 and this is spread over the sheet 1 after the latter has been laid over the grate 4 to cover the latter.

the paper sheet preferably has just enough body and stiffness to tend to unroll itself when it has been rolled and is dropped on the grate. In dotted lines I show the sheet as thus rolled and grasped in the hands of the fireman preparatory to dropping it onto a clean grate, the outer free end of the rolled sheet being turned towards the door 5 so that the sheet when dropped will unroll itself away from the door and thus automatically spread itself over the grate. Preferably, the cover sheets are furnished in rolls such as 6, each roll having the width of a different standard grate, such for instance as three, four and six feet, thus enabling the firemen to tear off a cover sheet of the required length from the roll of the desired width, each roll preferably being cover sheet ready provided with a tearing edge 7. The bend which the paper has received from being rolled is taken advantage of by rolling the detached sheet counter to the manner in which it was formerly rolled so that the paper will thus have more spring or tendency to nnroll itself.

After the initial bed has been laid on the grate cover sheet, shavings are placed thereon, the top draft is opened and the fire started in the usual manner, and I have found that my grate sheet does not retard or delay the firing of the boiler as compared with the present practice and that it has the very great advantage of supporting the coal above the grate until it relies, when the sheet, being inflammable, will ignite and be burned away so that a clean fire bed remains of such character that the tendency to form clinkers or to clog the grate is practically eliminated.

This invention is not intended to be restricted in scope to the specific embodiments shown, but contemplates such modifications as come within the spirit and scope of the claims.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is p 1. The hereindescribed method of starting fires on furnace grates without appreciable loss of fine coal, which consists in covering the furnace grate with a combustible feralninous cover, the apertures in which will permit a substantial updraft therethrough Without appreciable loss of line coal through such apertures, laying a bed of fine coal on said cover, starting the fire on top of said bed, and causing the bed to cohere substantially before the cover is burned.

2. As an article of manufacture, a grate covering paper sheet free of material tending to increase its combustibility and having closely associated perforations between a quarter and a half inch in diameter and equi-distantly spaced tc cover in the gate more than fifty per cent of the surface of the sheet. V

3. As an article of manufactin'e, a grate covering paper sheet free of material tending to increase its coinbnstibility and haw ing closely associated perforations between a quarter and a half inch in diameter and equi-distantly spaced to cover in the aggregate more than fifty per cent of the surface of the sheet, said paper haying sullicient stiffness after perforation to nnroll and spread itself on a furnace grate when dropped thereon in unrolled condition.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature,

JOSEPH P. EVANS.

Witness NoMm WELSH. 

